


All That Remains

by CheshireMoon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dying Castiel, Not Fluff, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 08:32:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1462684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheshireMoon/pseuds/CheshireMoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The mighty will Fall to circumstance and accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All That Remains

Dean grimaced as he plucked at the bloody shirt that was sticking gruesomely to his chest.  The ghoul that he and the other hunter Dean had teamed up with--Chris, Dean was pretty sure that was what his name was--did not go down easily.  The other hunter tossed their bags onto one of the dingy room’s beds.  

“Might want to get out of that before it starts drying, buddy,” Chris called, snagging a new shirt for himself and skipping off to the bathroom.  Dean watched him go and twitched.  He was too damn cheerful.  Shaking his head, he turned to his duffle bag and tugged out a new tee shirt.  He glanced down at his jeans and shrugged.  They only had a few spots, nothing they hadn't seen before.  

Dean pulled the gore-ridden tee up over his head, wrinkling his nose at the thick smell of the ghoul’s blood.  He found a clean corner of the shirt and swiped some extra blood that had seeped through the shirt off his stomach and chest.  Chris popped out of the bathroom at that point, and Dean turned to look at him instinctively.  Chris’ eyes went wide with surprise, his eyes drawn automatically to Dean’s chest.

“Is that a tat, man?  It is  _wicked_.”  He exclaimed, motioning towards the grey and black marks across Dean’s chest and shoulders.  Dean looked down again, pursing his lips at the inky, silhouetted wings that had refused to fade away.

  

_There was no damn way.  It was ridiculous to even think about.  Dean’s fingers dug into the bones of Cas’ shoulders as he cradled the wheezing angel to his chest, staring around him with a dazed expression.  They had just been a group of demons, nothing they hadn't faced before.  How had they gotten the upper hand?  It was impossible.  Dean's entire body was quivering as he tried his damnest to keep himself together. His eyes flicked over to Sam's broken body, blood having formed a morbid halo around his head, locks of hair soaked with it, his eyes staring glassily at something Dean couldn't see. He looked down at Cas, whose ethereal blue eyes hadn't left him._

_"You can't leave me alone, Cas. C'mon, mojo yourself back to being okay." Cas smiled sadly.  He was deceptively calm, and somehow Dean knew he was doing it for him, as he had always done everything for him._

_One of the demons had pulled out an angel blade, and he’d come at Dean with it, and Cas--damn idiot that he was--had slid between the demon and Dean, his entire body jerking at the impact as small streams of light leaked out around the wound, his body going to the floor immediately.  Dean and Sam’s reactions had been opposite._

_Dean had pushed himself immediately into action, shoving his knife up into the demon’s heart, tossing the body away.  Sam had frozen in shock, eyes drawn to the fallen angel.  He had no chance when the blonde haired demon bitch came up behind him.  The knife went straight up into his own heart.  His face had frozen into an expression of shock while his long, lean body fell limply to the floor in a heap.  Rage and grief mingled violently until they clawed their way out of Dean’s throat in an almost feral growl.  He launched himself at the demon, taking a kick to the stomach before he managed to drive his knife between her ribs and into her heart.  He jerked the knife up into her violently before letting her body drop as Sam’s had, kicking the corpse away from him._

_He looked to Sam first, and then to Cas, who was slowly and painfully in the process of turning his head to look at Dean.  Dean rushed to him immediately.  Now he was kneeling, Cas pulled right up against him.  His fingers dug into Cas until it hurt, but the angel would never say that.  He was simply glad to be in Dean’s arms, even if only for a short time.  He could feel the angel blade against his heart, knew that the second it was removed it would kill him._

_"When you pull the blade out, Dean, I will die." He was so deadpan about it, like he wasn't talking the finale of Dean's world falling apart.  “If I must die, Dean--”  Cas paused, his words slipping away from him for a moment as he focused on memorizing Dean’s face.  The mossy green eyes that were now full of tears that Cas didn't feel he deserved, the freckles, the lines that pain and time had carved into Dean’s face._

_“If I must die, then I can think of no better way to do so than to die for you.”  The broken sob that Dean had been trying so hard to contain burst from him, and the tears spilled from his eyes, trailing down his cheeks._

_“C’mon Cas, I need you.”  The enormity of everything settled in the middle of his chest, making it harder and harder to breathe.  Sam was dead, he hadn't even gotten to say goodbye, and Cas was dying.  He was being left alone.  Cas just shook his head as slightly as possible, still staring up at Dean.  “Why you?  Why Sam?  I'm the one who deserves to die, not my baby brother, not my angel.”_

_“You still don’t believe that you deserve to be saved,” Cas murmured, his tone incredulous.  His breathing was coming tightly, body racked with spasms of pain, but he ignored it, for Dean.  “My righteous man who thinks himself damned,” he said, almost thoughtfully.  “An angel loves you dearly, and you still think your place is in Hell.” Cas’ smile was weak.  A small shock went through Dean’s body at Cas’ easy admission, but there wasn’t a single part of him that rejected it._

_“If you love me, then don’t leave me!” He nearly shouted, almost glaring at Cas.  He regretted it as he really looked at Cas, who looked broken and tired, the corners of his eyes creasing with pain that he was obviously trying to hide._

_“I'm so sorry, Dean.”  Dean didn't say anything.  “If you love me, then you’ll let me go.”  Dean’s chest seemed to collapse inward, tearing loose every heartstring.  He stared at Cas for several long, hard seconds.  Without another word, he leaned down, pressing his lips to Cas’ forehead.  He shifted Cas in his arms until his back was against Dean’s chest, cradling him close.  He wanted a few, quiet moments, just a couple more.  He wrapped both of his arms around Cas’ middle and the angel leaned his head back against Dean’s shoulder.  They remained like that until Dean felt Cas give an involuntary twitch of pain._

_He leaned his forehead against Cas’ shoulder while he grabbed the hilt of the angel blade.  Cas let out a sigh, relaxing fully into Dean’s arms.  Dean yanked the blade out, and everything happened at once.  Cas’ entire body lit with a blinding blue light, it streamed from his mouth, from his eyes, from the wound.  Dean still clung to him, even when searing heat ripped through his torso, burning through his jacket and through his shirt.  He didn't move for a long time, still clutching Cas’ now still and lifeless corpse, but when he actually looked down at himself, he finally noticed the burnt, black shape of Cas’ wings._

He closed his eyes for a second.  The mark was all that remained of Cas.  “Yeah, it’s a tat I got a couple years ago.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> My two other fics:  
> You Are Done, My Wayward Son: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1301734  
> A Home Beneath the Stars: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1135366/chapters/2295273


End file.
